Sam Hauser is back in the middle of the Boston Celtics rotation, and he is there because Joe Mazzulla trusts him. In Friday night's victory over the Knicks, Hauser played 22 minutes, the kind of workload that says he is not just hanging onto a roster spot but holding down the main bench wing job.
That matters now because Hauser spent the offseason as a constant fixture in the trade machine, the sort of movable contract that can disappear before a season even starts. Instead, he has become the Celtics' main option off the bench while Jordan Walsh has started both games so far, a reminder that the depth chart can look unstable one week and set the next.
Hauser backed up that role with production. He finished with 6 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, hit 2 of 5 three-pointers and did not turn the ball over. He was tied for the team lead at plus-8, and he logged as many minutes as anyone outside of Jayson Tatum, Paul George, Derrick White and Payton Pritchard. Baylor Scheierman played 11 minutes, while Hugo Gonzalez got only a 3-minute stint after all three younger wings spent the summer trying to force their way into the picture.
The reason Mazzulla has leaned on Hauser instead of the younger wings is simple: he has seen what happens when the matchup gets tight and a player cannot be trusted in the moment. Hauser had a brutal showing in last season's playoff loss against the 76ers, and Mazzulla refused to dig deeper into the bench for a different answer. That history cut both ways. It made Hauser look vulnerable in the offseason, but it also left Mazzulla with a clear definition of the player he wants when the game is on the line — one who can space the floor, stay in the rotation and avoid mistakes.
There was never much urgency to move him as the season approached, especially after the Jaylen Brown trade helped the Celtics fill out the roster while staying just under the luxury tax. For now, Hauser has turned a summer of uncertainty into a central role. The question is no longer whether he can survive the rotation battle. It is how long Mazzulla keeps handing him the minutes over the younger wings pressing from behind.
